Air stripper: Solar wind (from the left) blowing against Mars tears atmosphere-filled plasmoids (yellow) from the tops of magnetic umbrellas.
Credit: Steve Bartlett/NASA
As Brain informed the Huntsville conference, he has since found a dozen more examples. The magnetic capsules or "plasmoids" tend to blow over the south pole of Mars, mainly because most of the umbrellas are located in Mars' southern hemisphere.
"We're still not sure how often the plasmoids form or how much gas each one contains," he said. "We need more data."
MAVEN probe
The problem is, Mars Global Surveyor wasn't designed to study the phenomenon. The spacecraft was only equipped to sense electrons, not the heavier ions which would make up the bulk of any trapped gas. That data could come from a new NASA mission named MAVEN, specifically designed to study this atmospheric erosion.
Short for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution," MAVEN is an upper atmosphere orbiter currently approved for launch to Mars in 2013.
It will travel around Mars in an elliptical orbit, piercing magnetic umbrellas at different altitudes, angles, and times of day; and it will explore regions both near and far from the umbrellas, giving researchers the complete picture they need.
With Science@NASA.
